Lines at Cuba travel agencies on day 1 of new law

HAVANA (AP) — Cubans formed long lines outside travel agencies and migration offices in Havana on Monday, as a highly anticipated new law took effect ending the island’s much-hated exit visa requirement.

The measure means the end of both real and symbolic obstacles to travel by islanders, though it is not expected to result in a mass exodus. Most Cubans are now eligible to leave with just a current passport and national identity card, just like residents of other countries.

And there were signs that even islanders in sensitive roles — or open opposition to the Communist government — will be included, a key litmus test of the reforms’ scope. A well-known Cuban dissident said Monday she’s been told she will now be allowed to travel after being blocked multiple times in the past.

Control over who can travel now largely shifts to other governments which will make their own decisions about granting entry visas. Cubans, like those of most other developing countries, will still find it difficult in many cases to get visas from wealthier nations like the U.S.

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Several European diplomats in Havana said their embassies have received a high volume of calls from would-be travelers unaware that they would still need a visa, despite a campaign in official Cuban media to clarify the new requirements.

“I have my passport, my identity card, everything in order,” said Willian Pineira, a 23-year-old who tried to buy a plane ticket Monday to visit relatives but was turned down because he lacked an entry visa. “I wanted to go to Venezuela. But it turns out you have to have permission from them!”

“I was confused. I thought you just paid the money for the trip, you had your passport and that was it,” Pineira said.

Cuba observers have been waiting to see how the government implements the law to gauge its effect. The measure contains language that lets the government deny travel in cases of “national security,” and one key test of the law will be whether authorities allow exits in sensitive cases such as military officers, scientists, athletes.

Doctors were told in meetings throughout the country last week that most of them will be allowed to travel, a surprise given Cuba’s long-standing concerns about brain drain of doctors and other health care workers.

One of the first people in line at the immigration office on Monday morning was dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez, who says she has been denied an exit visa 20 times in recent years.

Sanchez reported that her application for a new passport went smoothly. She was told it would take 15 days, and once she has the passport she would be able to travel.

“I have hope, but I’ll believe it when I’m sitting in an airplane,” she said.

At Havana’s international airport, bustling with Cuban-American travelers returning home after spending the holidays with family on the island, people praised the change but said there are still obstacles like cost and the difficulty of getting an entry visa.

“I would like to travel and be with my family,” said Maria Eugenia Jimenez, who was seeing off her sister who lives in Miami. “They (the U.S.) turned me down for a visa because I could be a possible immigrant. ... Now the problem is with the other countries, not with Cuba.”

The United States has a target of issuing 20,000 migrant visas per year to Cubans and processes tourist visa applications on a case-by-case basis.

Consular officials at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, Washington’s diplomatic mission on the island, acknowledge a huge backlog.

In October, the Interests Section more than doubled its capacity for processing nonimmigrant visa applications, and the wait time for an interview has fallen from nearly five years to less than a year, according to U.S. diplomats. The decision was made independently of Cuba’s announcement on the exit visa, they say.